pancake

26 July 2021

Yesterday was a Sunday and, incidentally, also my birthday.

As lockdown birthdays go, it was as indulgent as could be.

Since we couldn’t go anywhere (HCMC is in a strict lockdown, thanks Delta), we made this a gastronomic birthday, with my partner slaving away in the kitchen most of the day cooking up delicious treats and doing the dishes (thanks honey).

We started the day off with pancakes. We couldn’t manage to procure a birthday cake, so my partner made me some of his buckwheat pancakes as a substitute birthday cake.

Mercury Rising was on the telly so I just munched my pancake while tuning in and out of Bruce Willis being all action star-ey. A relaxing start to the day.

We whiled away the morning. (Well, I whiled away the morning, my partner was doing the dishes.) And then we had lunch.

We had bought t-bone steaks the sizes of which can probably crack open a skull or two, and my partner proceeded to fry it to medium rare perfection. It was a most delicious lunch and extremely good for the soul.

Then we watched Your Name which I saw in the cinema years back and remember being very good. The second watch was less satisfying than the first, but my partner who was seeing it for the first time seemed to enjoy it.

Then an instant noodle dinner (very satisfying, I’ve perfected the art of boiling it just right to leave the noodles bouncy) and The Beguiled, my partner’s choice of movie for the evening.

And that’s pretty much it. Three meals, three movies. Plus a bit of Minions in the late morning as my partner was prepping potatoes for lunch.

An indulgent birthday during a stringent lockdown.

I couldn’t have asked for better.

Love,

Val

Before you go…

Did you know I have a weekly newsletter where I share a thought from me every Friday? I write on topics ranging from coffee to writing as therapy. It’s a perfect read to end your working week. Check it out.

10 June 2020

I can’t believe it’s been over 3 weeks since my last post. And here I thought not having a 9 to 6 would give me ample time to blog.

How wrong I was.

A lot has happened on my end, so I thought I’d give you a quick summary of the past two weeks since I quit my job. I know you haven’t asked, but I’ll do it anyways.

  • First things first – I officially left my job. On Friday 29th May I went to the office (which I hadn’t set foot in since leaving for the long weekend on Thursday 12th March – little did I know…) to pack up my things and adopt (I asked, so it’s not stealing) a good number of Agojis

One of said Agojis now lives with my Kindle – how cute is he!

  • I had coffees and dinners (plus one sleepover) with a bunch of people, mostly from Agoda. In the process I was plied with much delicious home-cooked meals (beef tongue tacos, bouillabaise, peach crostata – the list continues)
Never had I tasted so much lush in so few days
  • I had 3 job interviews – 2 for Bangkok and 1 for Ho Chi Minh City – one of which I think went pretty well (fingers crossed I hear back within the next few weeks!)
  • I delivered 4 subtitles translation projects
  • I taught 2 students and experienced 1 gone AWOL
  • I started my cross stitch project which I bought almost a year ago and hadn’t touched since
Almost an hour later, this was as far as I got
  • I started a new blog because I had only 6 (3 of which active) and that’s clearly not enough
  • I bought some business books and started reading one
  • I started learning Vietnamese! Today marks Day 7 of my streak
You’ll be glad to see that Duolingo is as random as ever – Everyone knows you’re supposed to take your goat to the water slide! None of this ferris wheel nonsense… pfft

Okay, now that I see everything listed down, no wonder I didn’t have time to update this blog.

In short, it’s been a pretty good, but busy 12 days. Starting to wind down a bit these past few days though, which is good. What would be the point of quitting a job to have more time if you don’t take the time to rest and enjoy being leisurely?

How have you been in recent weeks?

Love,

Val